Variations on the theme of “ballet” by the composers of the Six group (1920s)

Abstract

The article is referring to the «Les Six» group composers’ ballets, created in collaboration with representatives of two main combination companies – S. P. Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes and R. de Mare’s Ballets Suedois. In the thirteen pieces of music by D. Milhaud, J. Poulenc, A. Honegger, G. Auric and G. Tailleferre are exposed varied treatments of the ballet genre, related with its active transformation in the first decades of the twentieth century. Talent’s characteristics of the mentioned above composers along with nontypical, sometimes far-off academic ballet scenographic and dance-plactic performances’ solutions have become creative impulse for experiments with ballet music. By the nature of transformations, the author splits the reviewed compositions into two categories: ballet scores closed to the established traditions and opuses, containing remarkable features of various genres’ interaction.